


The Customer is not Always Right

by DeathByStorm



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Retail, Humor, M/M, Meet-Cute, Pining Lance (Voltron), Voltron Valentine's Day Exchange 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 21:15:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17774363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeathByStorm/pseuds/DeathByStorm
Summary: “Pidge, he’s back,” Keith hissed.He stopped folding for a moment and watched the customer or ‘guest’ as corporate was always trying to get them to call them, as he traversed across the store. He hated this guy. He came in every day around this time and left a trail of absolute destruction in his wake.“Who’s back?” Pidge popped her head out from behind a rack.“Him."In which Keith finally confronts his archnemesis.





	The Customer is not Always Right

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hoodie3525](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoodie3525/gifts).



> As always, thank you to the lovely [Eilera](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eilera/pseuds/Eilera) for betaing.
> 
> Surprise, theunenamed! I was your secret Valentine for the Valentine's Exchange on Tumblr. Enjoy, and have a happy Valentine's day!

“Pidge, he’s back,” Keith hissed.

He stopped folding for a moment and watched the customer or ‘guest’ as corporate was always trying to get them to call them, as he traversed across the store. He hated this guy. He came in every day around this time and left a trail of absolute destruction in his wake.

“Who’s back?” Pidge popped her head out from behind a rack.

“ _Him_.”

“Keith, while I absolutely enjoy keeping tabs on your archenemies, you’re going to have to be a little clearer,” Pidge said. She adjusted the rack that she was working on and it made an ominous creaking sound. She gently put the next item on it and it honest to God wobbled. “Man, they really need to replace these.”

“The Rack Wrecker,” Keith said. “You know the guy who's come in every day around this time for the past couple of weeks and wrecked my displays.”

“Ooh I can hear the capitals.”

“Like does he have any idea how long those take to set up?”

“Mm-hm,” Pidge said.

“He never even buys anything,” Keith said. “He just comes in here and messes up the displays and then leaves.”

“You poor thing.”

“And he always has a knack for coming in just after I have finished. I don’t know why I even bother to clean everything up.”

“It’s tough to be a bitch in this economy.”

“Look, it’s enough that I have to deal with him, but can you lay off?”

Pidge snorted but graciously stopped teasing him. They folded shirts in companionable silence for the next few minutes.

The next time Keith glanced up from his endless stack of shirts, he noted that the man had subsequently destroyed three displays and was heading for a fourth. Keith set down his newly folded shirt with more force than was warranted and picked up another. He watched as the man lifted the stacks of pants and checked each one, starting with the top one, as if he was deliberately undoing all of Keith’s hard work.

“That’s it. I’m gonna tell him. No, I’m going to feed one of those shirts to him.”

“Well, if he complains to head office, then it’ll be your head on a platter.”

“No job is worth this. It’ll be my last stand before I leave this place for good.”

“Keith?”

“Hmm?”

“Not that I won’t absolutely enjoy watching this disaster unfold,” Pidge said. “But go easy on the actual merchandise, yeah?”

Keith looked down at the shirt and—huh. Apparently, he’d torn it.

"Sorry.”

The man was headed to the biggest display of them all. The crème de la crème of sweater displays that had taken Keith an hour to set up. Keith ran over to head him off at the pass.

“Excuse me, sir,” he said in his best customer service voice. Pidge had helpfully informed him that it made him sound like he was going to absolutely murder the customer instead of helping them. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

The man looked up and okay, he was way cuter than he had any right to be. His skin looked soft enough that Keith had to physically stop himself from reaching out to touch it and he had the sort of lanky build that Keith was weak for. And enough input from the peanut gallery of Keith’s brain. He needed to focus on the issue at hand.

“Hmm, I lost something,” he said with a sultry smile and Keith noted that his voice was pretty damn terrific too. “My phone number. Can I have yours?”

“You’re – no! That’s what you’ve come in here looking for?” Keith took a deep breath to try to control his anger. “Oh, you think just that because you’re cute you’ll get out of it huh?”

A distant part of Keith’s brain noted that the man looked even cuter with the poleaxed expression on his face. He told that distant part to shut up.

“Well, I’ve got news for you! Just because you’re cute doesn’t meant that you can get away with messing up my displays! They take forever to make!”

Keith poked his chest for emphasis and hell, he even smelled nice.

“Y-you think I’m cute?” the man squeaked. A hectic blush rose on the man’s cheeks before he regained control of himself and smiled seductively. He leaned on the display which creaked ominously under his weight. “The name’s La –”

And that was as far as he got as, with an almighty creak, Voltron’s aging premiere display table finally gave up its battle with gravity and collapsed like a cardboard box. The man was partially buried by Voltron’s latest haute couture sweater collection and what Keith assumed were the tattered remnants of his dignity. He groaned and rubbed the back of his head as he sat up.

“Are you okay?” Keith said.

He may have wished death on this guy multiple times, but he hadn’t actually wanted him to get injured. Though this whole series of events did feel like karma in some way.

“Oh my god,” Pidge said from behind the counter. “Well that happened. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” the man said weakly.

Keith sighed. “Let me help you up.”

He grabbed one of the man’s hands and hauled him to his feet.

“Thank you,” the man said. “My name’s Lance. Sorry about – that.”

He gestured to the destruction of Keith’s masterpiece.

“Don’t sweat it,” Pidge said before Keith could say anything. “We’ve needed a new table for ages.”

The man gave him a nervous look and Keith swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.

“There’s … there’s this cute guy that works here. He finds me cute too? I’ve been wanting to ask him out for ages and have been coming in here every day to do so but so far I’ve chickened out every time.”

“Shiro quit last week,” Keith said. Disappointment welled up in his chest. And why he was disappointed, Keith didn't know. This guy was an absolute terror. "And he already has a boyfriend.”

Lance gaped at him. “N-no. I meant you!”

“Me?”

“What, you don’t think that you’re hot? I mean have you seen yourself?” Lance gestured at him, which Keith couldn’t help but find flattering. “And you do this thing where you bite your lip when you’re concentrating that is super cute.”

Keith suddenly felt very warm. “And you still need to apologize for ruining all of my displays.”

“I didn’t-” Lance turned around taking in the chaos he had been oblivious to up until that moment.

“Yeah, you did.”

“Sorry for ruining your displays,” Lance said.

“Just don’t do it again,” Keith said. He averted his eyes from Lance's unrelenting gaze.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Lance said.

Keith crossed his arms and looked at him. “Technically you haven’t asked anything.”

Lance flushed a little, glaring at him. 

“I’m waiting.”

“Will you go out with me?” Lance squeaked. “Maybe coffee?”

Keith smirked and leaned in to let his hot breath wash over Lance’s ear. “I get off at 5:30. You can pick me up then. You’re buying though to pay me back for all of this.”

He gestured to the general path of destruction that Lance had left in his wake.

“A-awesome, I’ll see you then,” Lance said.

“I look forward to it.”

At that, Lance practically skipped out of the clothing store. He stopped outside the shop window likely thinking that Keith couldn’t see him and did a brief happy dance before leaving. It was adorable.

Keith shook his head at the ridiculousness that the last few minutes had bestowed on him. Irritation still welled up in his chest as he turned to the trail of destruction that Lance had left in his wake.

“Finally,” Pidge said as she came to help him, having carefully kept out of the way during their brief interaction. “I’ve been waiting for him to say something for weeks. I knew you’d like him too.”

“I only said yes because I felt bad for him,” Keith said.

After all, Pidge couldn’t always have the upper hand.

She snorted disbelievingly and Keith pulled a face at her.

But as he reached for the first shirt, he found himself smiling.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to come scream about Voltron with me on [Tumblr](https://www.deathbystorm.tumblr.com)


End file.
